Mentions of abuse

Wanda walked through the apartment. Steve and Bucky had gone to pick something up from their friend Sam. They had left her alone for a few minutes.

As she walked, she tripped, knocking over a small table with a porcelain vase. Her breathing sped up. 'No, no, no, no!' She thought, panicking. She had broken something. She hadn't meant to! But she was going to be in so much trouble- She scrambled over. She sat the table back up and put the shards on top. She cut her hands up while doing it, but she didn't care. They had to know she had broken it.

But she didn't want them to have to punish her. It was only her fifth day there, and she had already screwed up! She quickly tried to think of something that she could punish herself with, something that she absolutely hated. She figured something out.

She ran to her room and flung open the closet door. She had a pretty big closet, but there was a shelf and the bottom shelf had just enough room under it for to wiggle into. It would be a tight fit and extremely claustrophobic, but that's what she was going for. She hated the dark and enclosed spaces. Hopefully that would be enough to stop them from beating her. They claimed they would never hit her. No way that was true, they would if she was bad. Like now.

She closed the closet door, feeling her chest tightening already. She forced herself under the shelf. She had to curl up into the smallest ball she could manage. It was painful, and terrifying for her. She could feel a panic attack was setting in, but that was good. More punishment for what she did.

"Hey, Wanda, we're home!" Bucky called.

Wanda didn't dare answer.

"Wanda, kid, where are you?" Steve asked loudly.

Wanda pushed as far back against the wall as she could. Her heart was pumping as if she was running laps around the block.

She couldn't hear any of their conversation for a minute. "Wanda!" She heard Steve call. "Sweetie! Are you ok?"

When he got no reply, Bucky added, "You're not in trouble! We know it was probably an accident!"

'They're lying to get you to come out,' Her brain hissed. So she stayed hidden.

She heard them running around the house calling her name for a couple of minutes. "Wanda, come out! We're getting worried!" Bucky's voice sounded honest, but she was still scared.

She heard Steve's footsteps outside of the closet where she was hiding. The door opened and Steve found her. He knelt down. She struggled as he gently pulled her out from underneath the shelf. He softly placed her into his lap.

"Sweetie, what were you doing?"

"Punishing myself," Wanda said quietly.

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"Because I thought maybe if I did, you wouldn't be as mad at me."

"Oh, honey. No. We said we weren't mad at you."

"I thought that you were lying. That's what the people said before I would get punished."

Bucky had come into the room at that point. "Wanda, we won't lie to you like that, I swear. What would they have done to you at the orphanage for doing that?"

"They would've made me pull down my pants so they could spank me."

"Oh, honey. Is that why you were so scared at the doctor's the other day?"

Wanda nodded.

"They would spank you bare bottomed?" Steve sounded shocked.

Wanda gave the tiniest nod of her head.

"Oh, my god. You're way too old for that. That's kind of sexual at that point."

"They don't care," She sniffled.

"Well, we're never going to do anything like that, I promise."

Wanda weakly smiled. "Truly promise?"

"Truly promise." Steve felt his gut sink. He couldn't believe he even had to say such a thing. But the smile Wanda gave him made him feel a little better as she snuggled up against his chest. He soon saw her breathing slow. He smiled, kissing her forehead before gently carrying her to bed and tucking her in. "Have a nice nap, sleepyhead," He whispered.

Bucky kissed the top of Wanda's head before whispering, "Sweet dreams."

They walked into the living room. Bucky swept the glass shards off the table and into the garbage bag with his metal arm. "All cleaned up."

Steve shook his head. "All that over a vase? I can't believe it."

"In her defense, she did think we were gonna spank her. What kind of disgusting perverts do they have working in that orphanage?"

"I don't know, but we're gonna have to report it."

"Yeah. I think she needs something to make her feel safe."

"Like what?"

"I'm not really sure. Bug we'll think of something."

"Oh, I'm sure that we will."